Tour blog 24

Tour blog 24

05 Nov 2008

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91 down and 9 to go. Aftermarket On Tour nears the end of its BEN fundraisng mission

Wednesday 5th November . . .

7:30pm - The end is finally in sight. We've now visited 91 garages out of a planned 100 and it's only the final leg from Inverness through to John O'Groats still to complete.

We've picked up some very generous donations to BEN along the way and also some interesting business ideas from garage owners who not only have to deal with all the usual problems of access to technical information but the fact that there are (mile for mile) less cars up here than in most other parts of Britain.


Glenn Roberts and Terry Joiner at Lossiemouth Garage
Middlesborough football fan and garage boss Glenn wanders outside of his workshop to finish his mug of coffee and mull over the trials and tribulations of workshop life with us.

He said he left the north of England to move to Scotland because he preferred the more relaxed pace of rural life. Standing in the street, overlooking the sandy beaches of the rugged coastline, it's easy to see why life here might be more appealing than in the frantic bustle of Newcastle city centre.

"I've got two RAF bases nearby so although we don't get the volume of trade up here, it is constant and we do work on a lot of servicemens' cars," says Glenn.

Glenn has a Pro-cut brake lathe that he says is actually most useful for helping the car sales side of his business.

"If you've had a car waiting to be sold for a while and the discs have corroded a bit, giving them a skim makes them look shiny and new and customers really go for that," he says.


Keith Attwood at Moray Motors in Hopeman
This is another 'stop and drop' operation because Keith has his hands full with a service - and the lady owner of the car is keeping a steely eye on Keith during the MOT operation so we decide not to disturb him too much.

After a quick picture, we head up the road to our next stop.


Paul Fraser at Jim Sutherland Motor Engineer in Hopeman
When I ask Paul how his father-in-law's business promotes itself, he jokes that it's less to do with advertsing and more to do with him enjoying a chat with customers.

What we thought would be a quick five-minute stop turns into a half-hour gossip and it's hard to beat customer service that's so genuniely warm and friendly.

Paul's vintage petrol pumps that used to dispense fuel is no longer working because the dials only went up to 99p.

He'd like to start selling fuel again, he says, but is put off by the amount of investment and installation work it would take to upgrade his pumps and storage tanks.

After a great chat, we nip up the road to see his friends at Hopeman Service Station.


Graeme Harvey at Hopeman Service Station in Hopeman
I won't quite repeat the exact words of Graeme and his colleague (I get in trouble for publishing swear words!) but it's nice to get some genuinely honest feedback on the current state of the trade.

After a good few laughs and a joke, we head back east for our last call of the day.


Robbie Benzie at Highland Garage in Buckie
Robbie (pictured top right) runs a tight ship at the Highland Garage and has kept up-to-date with all the latest diagnostic kit and developments in industry codes of practice too.

It really shows because, in a region where a few people have been a bit pessimistic about business prospects, Robbie's garage is packed out still, even as the working day draws to a close.

His workshop is packed with VM logos of just some of the makes Robbie and his team deal with.

He's a member of the Good Garage Scheme (GGS) which he says is effective thanks to the clear yet cost-effective psychological effect it has with customers.

When it comes to easy-to-understand marketing messages for the motoring public, I guess GGS couldn't really be more obvious.

Nobody asks what Ronseal Quick Drying Woodstain is or what it's supposed to do. And the same applies to a scheme with the self-explanatory words 'good' and 'garage' in, I suppose.

Robbie is ATA accredited but admits that, in his experience, few drivers are ever likely to see the symbol on his advertising and ask what it means.

Likewise, a look of exasperation crosses his face when talking about the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code. It's not that he thinks it's a good or bad scheme necessarily.

More that it's yet another set of criteria for him and his garage to get round if he decides to sign up. He, like many people we've met, really think life would be easier if there was only one scheme to choose from.

Just as we're about to leave, one of Robbie's colleagues dashes out with a £100 cheque for BEN. Yet another extremely generous offer from an extremely professional garage.

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